EP3708719B1 - Sanitary fitting for a building drinking water network - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a sanitary fitting for a building drinking water network according to claim 1 and a method for operating a sanitary fitting according to claim 16.

The hygiene requirements for the drinking water supply of buildings or building complexes have increased significantly in recent years. The reason for this is the realization that standing water in the building's drinking water network for a long period of time, which is also referred to as stagnant water, can lead to the undesirable formation of germs. In this context, legionella or similar germs pose a health risk. Consequently, the relevant building drinking water network has been flushed regularly, which is referred to here as "hygiene flushing". Depending on the rinsing strategy, the germs are rinsed out, decimated and/or killed so that the water is again impeccable from a hygiene point of view.

It has already become known to control sanitary fittings designed as water outlet points for hygienic flushing. For this purpose, the sanitary fittings must be designed to be electrically controllable, cf. DE 10 2014 104 393 A1 . A well-known plumbing fixture ( DE 93 13 983 U1 ) is designed, for example, as a urinal. The local building drinking water network is flushed by the automatic actuation of such controllable water outlet points. The sanitary fittings are coupled via a data bus system to a controller arranged in the relevant building, so that a flushing plan stored in the controller can be processed automatically. The bus system between the control and the sanitary fittings is structured via intermediate controls, which leads to a correspondingly complex control structure, particularly in the case of complex building drinking water networks. This also means that a building technology extension is always accompanied by a corresponding control technology challenge. However, there is no other way of doing this with the known sanitary fittings.

The invention is based on the problem of designing and developing the known sanitary fitting for a building drinking water network in such a way that the flexibility in hygienic flushing is optimized with little effort in terms of control technology.

The above problem is solved with the features of claim 1 in a sanitary fitting for a building drinking water network.

What is important is the consideration that a sanitary fitting can in principle be configured to be mobile radio-capable, so that the sanitary fitting as such can communicate via a mobile radio connection. With this concept, the entire building drinking water network can be designed flexibly without expecting any restrictions in terms of control technology. It goes back to the idea that each sanitary fitting organizes its assigned mobile phone connection independently. Retrofitting an existing building drinking water network is also unproblematic.

In detail, a sanitary fitting for a building's drinking water network is proposed with a fitting housing, with an electrically controllable water outlet valve and with a mobile radio-capable fitting control. According to the proposal, the faucet control is set up to receive communication objects in the form of hygiene flushing instructions via a mobile phone connection and to implement them by activating the water outlet valve.

First of all, the hygienic flushing in a building drinking water network is improved with the proposed sanitary fitting, since every sanitary fitting can now be controlled for hygienic flushing, provided that there is a corresponding mobile phone reception. According to the proposal, the hygienic flushing is additionally improved by the fact that the availability of the sanitary fittings for a higher-level controller, which here and preferably is a cloud server system, is extremely high. As mentioned above, this is due to the fact that each sanitary fitting is assigned its own mobile phone connection.

In the preferred embodiment according to claim 2, the faucet control is set up to establish a mobile phone connection to a public mobile phone access point and the hygiene flushing instructions via the mobile phone connection received from an above internet-based cloud server system.

Such a cloud server system is a server system that is spatially independent of the building's drinking water network to be operated, since it communicates with the building's drinking water network via the Internet. The cloud server system preferably makes available the computing power that is currently required by the building's drinking water network. Furthermore, the cloud server system has access to information from external data sources via the Internet, on the basis of which hygienic flushing can be optimized according to various criteria. An example of this is weather information, which provides information on whether nucleation in the building drinking water network is weather-supported, which should result in increased hygienic flushing. With the mobile radio-based connection of the proposed sanitary fitting to such a cloud server system, a further improvement in hygienic flushing results from the possibility of taking additional information into account.

What is interesting about the preferred embodiment according to claim 2 is the fact that a mobile radio connection is provided between a public mobile radio access point and the fitting control. The cellular access point is a gateway between the cellular network and the Internet. With regard to the mobile phone connection, a decentralized control approach was chosen according to the proposal, in which the proposed sanitary fitting, taken by itself, establishes a mobile phone connection to the relevant public mobile phone access point.

In the present case, the term "public" merely means that the mobile radio access point is also accessible to mobile radio subscribers who do not belong to the building's drinking water network.

The preferred refinements according to claims 3 and 4 relate to the possibility of bidirectional data transmission via the cellular connection, in that the faucet controller is set up to generate faucet communication objects and to transmit them via the cellular connection, here and preferably to a cloud server system. In a particularly preferred embodiment according to claim 3, the dashboard communication objects represent status information and/or dashboard sensor information and/or user inputs. Other types of valve communication objects are conceivable.

With the above, bidirectional communication, a feedback from the valve controls can be set up, which ranges from a simple confirmation of the implementation of a hygiene flushing instruction to a control-technical feedback.

According to claim 5, the fitting control has a central control unit, which can be constructed, for example, in the manner of a single-board computer. The central control unit is used, among other things, to implement the received hygiene instructions by activating the water outlet valve accordingly.

The further preferred refinements according to claims 6 and 7 relate to details of a preferred implementation of the mobile radio link in question. For this purpose, the fitting control preferably has a mobile radio unit according to claim 6, which is designed in a particularly preferred embodiment according to claim 7 as a narrowband LTE unit (Long Term Evolution mobile radio standard).

In addition, the fitting control according to claim 8 can have a near-field communication module that works according to protocols such as Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy, NFC or the like.

The further preferred embodiments according to claims 9 to 11 relate to the communication objects to be transmitted in connection with a hygiene flushing instruction. In the particularly preferred embodiment according to claim 9, the faucet control is set up to receive hygiene flushing parameters of a hygiene flushing instruction and to implement them as mentioned above. In the simplest case, the hygiene flushing parameters are a predetermined flushing time and a predetermined flushing duration according to claim 10.

Hygienic rinsing can be implemented in different ways. In the preferred embodiment according to claim 11, the implementation of a hygiene flushing instruction is based on the actuation of a water outlet valve to open the water outlet valve. Here it becomes clear that the water outlet valve is used twice, namely on the one hand for the intended use of the sanitary fitting and on the other hand for the implementation of the hygiene flushing instructions.

The further preferred embodiments according to claims 12 to 15 relate to the equipment of the faucet control with a sequence control, so that the hygiene flushing instruction does not only have to include a switching command, but can trigger entire control sequences, ie control programs.

According to a further teaching according to claim 16, which is of independent importance, a method for operating a proposed sanitary fitting as such is claimed.

According to the method, it is essential that communication objects in the form of hygiene flushing instructions are received by the faucet control via a mobile phone connection and are implemented by activating the water outlet valve. Reference may be made to all statements on the mode of operation of the proposed sanitary fitting.

Fig. 1

in einer schematischen Darstellung zwei Gebäude-Trinkwassernetzwerke, die mit mehreren vorschlagsgemäßen Sanitärarmaturen ausgestattet sind, die nach dem vorschlagsgemäßen Verfahren betrieben werden und

Fig. 2

in einer ebenfalls schematischen Darstellung die Steuerungsstruktur einer vorschlagsgemäßen Sanitärarmatur.

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to a drawing that merely shows an exemplary embodiment. In the drawing shows

1

in a schematic representation of two building drinking water networks, which are equipped with several proposed sanitary fittings, which are operated according to the proposed method and

2

in a likewise schematic representation, the control structure of a proposed sanitary fitting.

The proposed sanitary fittings 1-5 shown in the drawing are two building drinking water networks also shown in the drawing 6, 7 assigned. The sanitary fittings 1-4 are assigned to the building drinking water network 6 and the sanitary fitting 5 to the building drinking water network 7 .

The sanitary fittings 1-5 can be any sanitary fitting that has a water outlet valve for letting out drinking water. This includes, for example, washbasin fittings, shower facilities, toilets, urinals, or the like. Correspondingly, this does not include all types of shut-off valves that do not allow water to escape.

1 shows that an internet-based cloud server system 8 is provided. In the present case, the term “internet-based” in connection with the cloud server system 8 means that the cloud server system 8 is set up to communicate via an internet connection, as will be explained below.

The proposed sanitary fittings 1-5 each have a fitting housing 1a-5a, as can be seen from the drawing.

The proposed sanitary fittings 1-5 are also equipped with an electrically controllable water outlet valve 1b-5b and a mobile phone-capable fitting control 1c-5c. "Electrically controllable" means here in general that the sanitary fittings 1-5 designed as water outlet points are set up to be opened and closed electrically by a corresponding control by the fitting control 1c-5c in order to allow or block the discharge of drinking water.

According to the proposal, it is now provided that the faucet controls 1-5 are each set up to receive communication objects in the form of hygiene flushing instructions via a mobile phone connection 1d-5d and to implement them by activating the water outlet valve 1b-5b.

Furthermore, it is preferably the case that the respective fitting control 1c-5c is set up to set up a mobile phone connection 1d-5d to a public mobile phone access point 9 and to send the hygiene flushing instructions via the mobile phone connection 1d-5d from an above, Internet-based cloud server system 8 receive.

In principle, provision can be made for the cloud server system 8 to transmit additional communication objects via the respective mobile radio connection 1d-5d to the respective fitting control 1c-5c in addition to the hygiene flushing instructions. This includes, for example, a configuration data set, via which the respective fitting control 1c-5c can be brought into a predetermined operating mode. Such operating modes can be, for example, a comfort mode, an energy-saving mode, a water-saving mode or the like. In principle, the configuration data record can comprise only a single configuration parameter or else a plurality of configuration parameters.

Depending on the application, numerous other communication objects that are transmitted by the cloud server system 8 are conceivable. For example, a communication object can represent an emergency stop instruction, upon receipt of which the proposed fitting controls 1c-5c close the respective water outlet valve 1b-5b.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, bidirectional communication is provided between the cloud server system 8 and the fitting controls 1c-5c. It is preferably the case that the fitting controls 1c-5c are set up to generate fitting communication objects and to transmit them to the cloud server system 8 via the respective mobile radio connection 1d-5d. Such dashboard communication objects can represent, for example, status information and/or dashboard sensor information and/or user inputs. The status information can concern, for example, a connection status to the mobile radio access point 9, the battery status of a supply battery of the fitting control 1c-5c or the confirmation of the completion of a rinsing action.

In order to generate the fitting sensor information, it is preferably provided that the sanitary fitting 1-5 has at least one sensor 10, which is shown on the sanitary fitting 3 by way of example. The sensor 10 generates fitting sensor information, which is transmitted to the cloud server system 8 as a fitting communication object via the cellular connection 1d-5d. Here and preferably the sensor 10 is a temperature sensor. The use of other types of sensors is conceivable.

The control engineering structure of the in 1 Valve control 3 shown results from the representation according to 2 . The fitting control 3c there has a central control unit 11, by means of which the received hygiene instructions can be implemented by activating the water outlet valve 3b. It has already been pointed out that the central control unit 11 can be implemented in different ways, in particular as a single-board computer.

2 FIG. 1 further shows that the fitting control 3c has a mobile radio unit 12, by means of which the mobile radio connection 3d can be established in order to communicate with the cloud server system 8. A particularly compact configuration results from the fact that the mobile radio unit 12, here and preferably together with the entire fitting control 3c, is arranged in the fitting housing 3a. Alternatively or additionally, provision can be made for the water outlet valve 1b-5b to be arranged in the fitting housing 3a.

The preferred embodiment in which the mobile radio unit 12 is designed as an LTE unit (Long Term Evolution Mobile Radio Standard), here and preferably as a narrowband LTE unit, is particularly advantageous with regard to a secure mobile radio connection.

An above mobile radio unit 12, in particular a mobile radio unit 12 designed as an LTE unit, can be arranged in the fittings housing 3a, with an antenna unit assigned to the mobile radio unit 12 also being arranged in the fittings housing 3a, in a section of the fittings housing 3a or outside of the fittings housing 3a, depending on the design can. In the latter case, the mobile radio unit 12 can be arranged, for example, together with a power pack or the like arranged separately from the sanitary fitting 1-5.

The representation according to 1 shows that the communication between the cloud server system 8 and the sanitary fittings 1-5 takes place without intermediate data processing between the cloud server system 8 and the sanitary fittings 1-5. In the Internet connection 13 between the cloud server system 8 and the cellular access point 9, in the cellular connections 1d-5d and in the mobile access point 9 itself, which is merely a gateway, no data processing takes place that goes beyond measures for data transport.

In addition to the above mobile radio unit 12, the proposed sanitary fitting 3 preferably has a near-field communication module 14, with the near-field communication module 14 being able to transmit communication objects between the fitting controller 3c and a peripheral device, here preferably a programming device.

Alternatively or additionally, the fitting control 3c can be assigned a communication unit 15 which can be plugged from the outside onto the sanitary fitting 3 and thus onto the fitting control 3c, in particular via an electrical plug connection. This results in particular flexibility with regard to the communication between the sanitary fitting 1-5 and peripheral devices. In principle, the communication unit 15 can also be a mobile radio unit as mentioned above.

In the 2 The proposed fitting control 3c shown additionally has a number of user interfaces in the form of an infrared sensor 16, a capacitive sensor 17 or another sensor 18 that can be attached to the sanitary fitting 3 from the outside for determining user inputs.

The representation according to 2 finally shows that the faucet control 3c has a number of driver units, for example a driver unit 19 assigned to the water outlet valve 1c or a driver unit 20 assigned to a mixing unit.

The faucet controller 1c-5c is preferably set up to receive hygiene flushing parameters of a hygiene flushing instruction via the relevant mobile phone connection 1d-5d and to implement them by actuating the water outlet valve 1b-5b. Such hygienic rinsing parameters can be, for example, the rinsing time or the rinsing duration when a hygiene rinsing instruction for the opening of the water outlet valve 1b-5b to a should be directed at such a predetermined flushing time and/or over such a predetermined flushing duration.

In the simplest case, the implementation of a hygiene flushing instruction corresponds to the actuation of the water outlet valve 1b-5b to open this water outlet valve 1b-5b. The hygiene flushing instruction is preferably a simple switching instruction to the water outlet valve 1b-5b.

Alternatively or additionally, it can be provided that the faucet controller 1c-5c, here and preferably the central control unit 11 of the faucet controller 1c-5c, has a sequence controller that is set up, upon receipt of a hygienic flushing instruction, to execute a control sequence assigned to the hygienic flushing instruction from at least one control action , preferably from at least two control actions to implement. Such a control action can be, for example, the above-mentioned opening of the water outlet valve 1b-5b.

In a further preferred embodiment, the sequence control is set up to implement a control sequence assigned to the hygienic flushing instruction in a time-controlled manner upon receipt of a hygienic flushing instruction. As an alternative or in addition, the implementation of the control sequence can be repeated cyclically upon receipt of the associated hygiene flushing instruction.

For the above, time-controlled implementation of the control sequence, the sequence control is preferably equipped with a time module which, in a particularly preferred embodiment, provides a time sequence or a time.

The above-described equipment of the central control unit 11 with a sequence control transfers part of the control over the hygiene flushing to the proposed sanitary fitting, so that the hygiene flushing instruction is limited to a simple trigger command for the control sequence in question, possibly with the transmission of corresponding hygienic flushing parameters. This means that the amount of data required for the hygienic flushing of the in 1 shown building drinking water networks 6, 7 is required extremely low.

The valve control 1c-5c can be equipped with a number of different, additional control functions. This includes, for example, a module for self-diagnosis, for example to check the function of the water outlet valve 1b-5b.

According to a further teaching, which is of independent importance, a method for operating a proposed sanitary fitting 1-5 as such is claimed.

It is essential for the proposed method that communication objects in the form of hygiene flushing instructions are received by the fitting control 1c-5c via a mobile phone connection 1d-5d and are implemented by activating the water outlet valve 1b-5b. In a particularly preferred embodiment of the proposed method, a mobile phone connection 1d-5d to a public mobile phone access point 9 is set up by the valve controller 1c-5c, with the hygiene flushing instructions being received from an internet-based cloud server system 8 via the mobile phone connection 1d-5d.

All of the above statements on the mode of operation of the sanitary fitting 1-5 and on the interaction between the sanitary fitting 1-5 and the cloud server system 8 apply accordingly to the proposed method.

Claims (16)

1. Sanitary fitting for a building drinking water network (6, 7) having a fitting housing (1a-5a), having an electrically actuatable water outlet valve (1b-5b) and having a mobile-radio-capable fitting controller (1c-5c), wherein the fitting controller (1c-5c) is designed to receive communication objects in the form of hygiene flush instructions via a mobile radio connection (1d-5d) and to implement said communication objects by actuating the water outlet valve (1b-5b).
2. Sanitary fitting according to Claim 1, characterized in that the fitting controller (1c-5c) is designed to set up a mobile radio connection (1d-5d) to a public mobile radio access point (9) and to receive the hygiene flush instructions via the mobile radio connection (1d-5d), preferably from an Internet-based cloud server system (8) .
3. Sanitary fitting according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the fitting controller (1c-5c) is designed to produce fitting communication objects and to transmit them via the mobile radio connection (1d-5d), preferably in that the fitting communication objects represent fitting status information and/or fitting sensor information and/or user inputs.
4. Sanitary fitting according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sanitary fitting (1-5) has at least one sensor (10) that produces fitting sensor information, and in that the fitting controller (1c-5c) is designed to transmit the fitting sensor information as a fitting communication object via the mobile radio connection (1d-5d).
5. Sanitary fitting according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the fitting controller (3c) has a central control unit (11) by means of which the received hygiene instructions can be implemented by actuating the water outlet valve (3b).
6. Sanitary fitting according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the fitting controller (3c) has a mobile radio unit (12) by means of which the mobile radio connection (3d) can be made, preferably in that the mobile radio unit (12) is arranged in the fitting housing (3a) .
7. Sanitary fitting according to Claim 6, characterized in that the mobile radio unit (12) is in the form of an LTE unit, in particular in the form of a narrowband LTE unit.
8. Sanitary fitting according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the fitting controller (1c-5c) has a near-field communication module (14) and in that the near-field communication module (14) can be used to transmit communication objects between the fitting controller (1c-5c) and a peripheral device, in particular a programming device.
9. Sanitary fitting according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the fitting controller (1c-5c) is designed to receive hygiene flush parameters of a hygiene flush instruction and to implement them by actuating the water outlet valve (1b-5b).
10. Sanitary fitting according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a hygiene flush instruction is geared to opening the water outlet valve (1b-5b) at a predetermined flush time and/or over a predetermined flush period.
11. Sanitary fitting according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the implementation of a hygiene flush instruction corresponds to the actuation of the water outlet valve (1b-5b) in order to open the water outlet valve (1b-5b).
12. Sanitary fitting according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the fitting controller (1c-5c), in particular the central control unit (11) of the fitting controller (3c), has a flow controller that is designed to respond to receiving a hygiene flush instruction by implementing a control sequence, associated with the hygiene flush instruction, comprising at least one control action, preferably comprising at least two control actions.
13. Sanitary fitting according to Claim 12, characterized in that the flow controller is designed to respond to receiving a hygiene flush instruction by implementing a control sequence associated with the hygiene flush instruction in a timed manner.
14. Sanitary fitting according to Claim 12 or 13, characterized in that the flow controller is designed to implement the control sequence in a cyclically repeated manner upon receiving the associated hygiene flush instruction.
15. Sanitary fitting according to Claim 12 and if appropriate according to Claim 13 or 14, characterized in that the flow controller for the timed implementation of the control sequence has a time module, preferably in that the time module provides a timing or a time.
16. Method for operating a sanitary fitting (1-5) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the fitting controller (1c-5c) receives communication objects in the form of hygiene flush instructions via a mobile radio connection (1d-5d) and implements them by actuating the water outlet valve (1b-5b) .

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